The other day I received a new comment in my entry called Blog Suppression, a post where I expressed my struggle with how much I should censor my opinions on here and if I should worry about offending people. Their question:

I would like to hear how you have decided to handle your posts. I am considering starting a blog and I think I have a lot of entertaining topic/obervations/things to touch upon, but I also don’t want to cast a dark light on anyone I know or care about. I don’t even want to cast a dark light on people I don’t know or don’t care about. My observations would never be mean spirited, but more comic. I realize when someone else is the center of humorous observation they have a hard time wrapping around the poster’s humor. Not sure what to do myself.

That is a very good question to ask. Here are some thoughts. If you truly feel that your observations wouldn’t intend on being mean spirited then I say you don’t have anything to worry about, really. Don’t censor your yourself. Yesterday while I was typing my Express Yourself post, I was looking at the wiki page and I came across another quote by Madonna that I find fit for not only her song but this kind of situation as well.

The time I learn how not to edit myself will be the time I consider myself a complete adult. – Madonna

To put it simply, post about whatever you want. If your intentions aren’t to be mean, that should show through. If you are worried about coming off like a jerk, you might want to reread or have a friend read your posts to see how it comes across to an audience member. But also know that you can’t always please everyone. There will likely usually be someone who will find fault in something you write, and that just comes with the territory of being a writer/blogger. Maybe you could make a disclaimer or note somewhere in the About section that your blog is meant to be humorous, so people won’t take everything you say so seriously. With most humor blogs I see, there is usually a description somewhere stating that it is humorous. Take The Bloggess, for example. She makes it pretty obvious that her blog is meant to be funny and most people are on board with that. People can either take it or leave it and if someone hates what you say anyway, they don’t have to visit. It may take some time for you to develop the right kind of message you want to get across and that is ok. You’ll get it. Tell your friends and family about your blog and explain to them what kind of blog it is. They might not agree with every little thing you say in it, but that’s just natural. It’s ok to be a little candid sometimes. Everyone is that way from time to time. You might also be surprised at how many people will support you with it and become a fan of your writing. I hope this helps, good luck!